The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 49

Last in a Series By JERRY OSTER liw York Newt Servlet says a Drake University sociologist one of the least understood least planned for stages of life that a man goes As the retirement revolution gains momentum more and more sociologists and gerontologists are becoming distressed at the random manner with which many people approach what thanks to an increase in longevity is becoming a longer period of their lives lives are divided roughly into three says Don Bowman who heads Pre-Retirement Planning RETIREMENT twilight challenge Center first is the developmental stage the second the period of gainful employment and family raising a neat little bridge between these two stages and education But the third stage retirement and old age has no meaningful bridge leading to it People who approach retirement are like sailors taking a ship near to the edge of a flat AGE 65 a man may soon be able to expect to live another 13 to 15 says Henry Wallfesh director of ment Advisors Inc yet most people head for that state with far less planning than give to a two-week vacation trip" In an effort to reduce this haphazardness and to raise consciousness as to the pitfalls of retirement a small industry of retirement counselors has grown up in the last 20 years Specialists like Wallfesh whose firm provides planning programs on a contract basis to business and industry and membership organizations like the American Association of Retired Persons have produced a small library of books and pamphlets aimed at inducing retirement preparedness Retirement Moving Retirement Food Retirement Pet Retirement Legal are among the titles in their pamphlet series Dependent on Jobs A READER may be struck by an almost Spot simplicity about these booklets as they detail problems which presumably one would have faced throughout life and not just on or nearing retirement have to remember" says Clifton Fichtner director of the pre-retirement division Action for Independent Maturity most people become dependent on their jobs not only financially but in terms of filling their time and determining when and how they spend their leisure time employers their co-workers their unions all form a social institution which structures their lives For the retiree this institution often ceases to be and' on their Preretirement counseling for all its salutary effects has not developed without obstacles laid both by the employe and the employer £4 S' tl'5 1 4 -Herald Staff Photo by MARLIN LEVISON ters a retired legal secretary and If' A Blake a retired1 studio photographer Regular visitors to the downtown li-brary the trio pursues a variety of THREE MIAMIANS who haven't time to read books on retirement pose with some of the public library's volumes on the subject From left they are Henry Rapp a retired chef Mrs Frances Soe- -i emors i brary Favorite lot of workers have the attitude that retirement is a private thing and that not going to think about it until they finally experience says Bowman Company Counseling IDENTIFICATION as being eligible for retirement is a blow to some says Marvin Veronee associate director of retirement studies at the University of Chicago people feel that any talk of retirement is outward evidence that getting old and that their company wants to get rid of At the same time retirement counseling has been rejected by many businessmen as a kind of paternalism and an intru-' sion into an private life More recently this attitude has begun to change A recent survey of 200 US corporations by the Bureau of National Affairs found more than half operating preretirement counseling programs A study by the University of Graduate School of Management and Business found that counseling did seem to effect positively the adjustment of the retirees and to some degree weaken the resistance of the older employes to retirement as well as contribute significantly to better morale and job-related attitudes of the employes in the last years before Retirement counselors agree that counseling can at best be general in its discussion of problems because the concerns of each potential retiree vary so widely Most programs use literature individual counseling seminars and group meetings to get the planning message across and all stress the voluntary nature of their programs again in an effort to avoid being cast as paternal result of this says one corporate personnel executive that the people who enroll in our planning Turn to Page 3D Other popular novels about aging include by Margaret Laurence by Marya Mannes and Flight of by Robert Ni-colson TRAVEL BOOKS are the most popular with retirees ask for information about travel before and after they Eason and our films on travel are by far the most popular subject with older After travel comes finance Oldsters want to know how they can best invest their savings They storm the business and science section where Miss Louise Maurer guides them to financial magazines and services are mostly interested in she said come here straight from their stock office to do- some research They fight with each other over what stock is good And they fight over the financial If retirees worrying about money worrying about health They pore through medical books and an encyclopedia of drugs Their doctors prescribe a certain drug and they want to know all about it said Miss Maurer ALSO POPULAR with retirees is hobby material particularly fishing gardening and handcrafts Rug hooking needlepoint and quilt making are favorite hobbies for some Music and art is another popular section of the library for retirees like to check out pictures to brighten their said librarian Marguerite Cano also check out Many retirees take up painting and besiege the library staff for information on painting techniques They borrow folders containing pictures of flowers landscapes and seascapes to copy The main lectures and book reviews presented at noontime over sandwiches and coffee are well attended by retirees The occasional at movies also draw scores of senior citizens Mrs Soeters spoke for the trio of retirees picked at random from a room full of readers when she said: is just great if you know how to use your time The problem with a lot of old folks is they never had any intellectual interests before they retired how could they expect to enjoy their leisure if they know how to occupy their Eason director of community relations for the library ionce they retire they search out subjacts in all areas of study If they have a particular problem with retirement bound to have a book or reference material to help she said Such books as to Grow Old by Philip Kelly edited by Geneva Mathiasen afid Up Younger! How to Make the Most of Your Late by Dr' Samuel Gertman and Helen Alpert advise retirees to keep healthy and iitvolved in life BOOKS Sti'CH as Security and Medicare a US News and World Report Book and in the Later by Dr Robert Rothenberg help oldsters find answers to specific questions Some of the best books on old age and retirement are novels according to the librarians Happy by Jean Detre the by Paul Bailey and cm-the by Gladys Hasty more to explain the various facets of aging than do' many sociological studies'" and ccording to a report by the library Services to an Aging Papulation Committee which reported tD the 1971 White House Conference on Aging By JOWERXE Herald Staff Writer Henry Rapp a vigorous 84 is a retired chef who loves to read books on adventure finance and politics pecially He never looks at a cookbook Mrs Frances Soeters 70 a retired legal secretary studies investments 'also researching a book about how people to accept anything strange to using individuals she knows as subject matter A Blake 71 a retired studio photographer leans toward science in his reading Retirement he says something you might as well enjoy because you help THE THREE Miamians all regular visitors to the downtown- public library are typical of the retirees who come to read and study say the librarians They books about retirement although Lhe library has dozens on the subject Rather they read in the areas that interest them interests they developed during their employment years want books on retirement before they said Miss Helga svv -VCV 5 i Staff Photos by ALBERT COYA NAOMI Levine attorney and history buff thinks a white backlash is threatening this country's progress toward economic and social problems on They are not sophisticated enough to search out the real answers It looks to them like blacks with their high crime involvement and dependence on welfare are the The result is a growing fear of blacks a fear which is not alleviated she notes by the aggressive separatism rhetoric of the black community The symptoms she says are evident: mushrooming white resistance to integrated housing developments to busing to school integration A MEMBER of the legal staff of the American Jewish Congress when that organization was helping to fight the integration battles of the early Mrs Levine believes increased black employ- frustration is as jnuch a problem as it has ever been shes says And right now in the United States she believes integration is the most critical domestic issue IN MIAMI this week to speak to various Jewish organizations on discrimination poverty and politics Mrs Levine asserts that a white backlash is threatening this progress toward economic and social integration The backlash she as convinced originates in the central cities with their bad expensive housing school and-transportation problems tight employment and high crime rates all these things together and the people living there have to find a scapegoat something to blame their By SARAH ELDER Herald Stall Writer Naomi Levine is a history buff who would like to believe a Hitler could never happen again if asked me in the if a Hitler could occur in educated Germany I would have said no So while I have to say no now I say it with a heavy heart because we never know how a nation will react when faced with A lawyer executive director of the American Jewish Congress assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and expert on racial and religious discrimination Mrs Levine is worried Discrimination triggered by fear and ment is the first step toward a solution But not increased employment under the currently used quota system quota system that is inclusive is also she says Her opinion as a lawyer is that the quota system unconstitutional even if it it causes such a bad community reaction that is is a major cause of black-white tensions in certain areas of the Religious and racial discriminations against Jews have diminished since Turn to Page 2D 1 1 A A.